Sun Jun 15 11:26:26 2008

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Federer captures his fifth Halle title

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Halle, Germany (Sports Network) - World No. 1 Roger Federer continued his dominance in Halle by dropping unseeded Philipp Kohlschreiber in Sunday's final at the $1.12 million Gerry Weber Open, a grass-court Wimbledon tuneup.

The Swiss Federer handled unseeded Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-4 to capture his 25th straight match win at this event. The top-seeded Federer also improved his winning streak on grass to 59 matches. The Swiss hasn't lost on grass since suffering a first-round setback at the hands of Croat Mario Ancic at Wimbledon back in 2002. Federer skipped this Halle event last year after capturing the title four years in a row, from 2003-06.

The reigning five-time Wimbledon champion Federer rebounded in a big way, after a disappointing 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 loss to Rafael Nadal in last week's final at Roland Garros.

This was Kohlschreiber's second ATP final appearance of the season. He collected his second career title in Auckland earlier this year. The German player was a semifinal loser here last year.